A Levittown, Pa., man was one of three people charged Thursday by the Securities and Exchange Commission for their roles in a scheme to manipulate a company’s stock price. The complaint said Thomas J. Kelly and Jonathan E. Bryant manipulated the stock price of 8000 Inc. the Virginia-based shell company in which they were principals, along with their lawyer Carl N. Duncan. An SEC spokesman said it alleged to have a sportswear store in Barbados but that 8000 Inc. was not a functioning business.

The SEC said Bryant acquired control of the company in 2009, appointed Kelly CEO and retained Duncan as securities counsel. The SEC said the three defendants misrepresented 8000’s financial condition to investors while simultaneously selling, or facilitating the sale of, the company’s securities in violation of the antifraud and securities registration provisions of the federal securities laws. According to the complaint, the defendants’ scheme increased the volume of trading in 8000 by 93 percent and the company’s stock price from less than 1 cent per share to 42 cents per share between November 2009 and October 2010.

The complaint alleges that Bryant and Kelly released financial reports and press releases falsely representing that 8000 had millions of dollars in capital financing and revenues when, in fact, the company had neither. It also says as they drove the company’s stock price higher with the false information, Bryant, of Hole Town, Barbados, sold 56.8 million shares of 8000 into the market, reaping substantial profits. The shares that Bryant sold were allegedly “restricted” shares that he should not have sold into the market at that time.

Kelly, 44, of Levittown, Pa., allegedly profited from the scheme by buying and selling the company’s securities in the secondary market. The complaint charges that Duncan, 66, of Bethesda, Md., participated in the scheme by providing false legal opinions to the company’s transfer agent that improperly removed the restrictions on Bryant’s shares and enabled Bryant to unlawfully sell the restricted shares into the market. He is also accused of providing false legal opinions to the OTC markets, where the company’s stock was traded.

Duncan received 1 million shares but the SEC said he was impeded from selling those shares after the commission issued an order on Nov. 4, 2010, suspending trading in the securities of 8000.

Duncan, who has agreed to settle the matter, subject to court approval, without admitting or denying the allegations, consented to a final judgment that would permanently enjoin him from violating SEC rules, permanently bar him from participating in the offering of any penny stock and order him to return the $15,570 in legal fees that he received from Bryant and to pay $524.98 in prejudgment interest and a $25,000 civil penalty. Duncan, in a related administrative proceeding to be instituted by the commission, has also agreed to be permanently suspended from appearing or practicing before the commission as an attorney.

Kelly’s lawyer, Duane Morris partner Michael Mustokoff, said he is in active settlement negotiations with the SEC. He said his client was “taken in” after spotting what he thought was an investment opportunity on the Internet.

“He’s a victim of it all,” Mustokoff said. “He sustained a lot of losses in this alleged investment. It should serve as a warning to others.”